Hollywood in mourning

Hollywood is mourning the passing of one of the greatest stars of its golden era, Elizabeth Taylor, who died in Los Angeles from heart failure.

Transcript

icon-plusicon-minus

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Hollywood is mourning the passing of one of the greatest stars of its golden era. Elizabeth Taylor has died in Los Angeles from heart failure. She was 79. The veteran of more than 50 films was recognised with two Oscars, but was often in the limelight because of her rather turbulent private life. The BBC's Will Gompertz reports.

Elizabeth Taylor was born in London to American parents. The family moved to Beverly Hills in 1939 when she was seven. It was her kinda town. She had a film contract by the time she was 10, and at 12, made a name in this film.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR, ACTRESS: But if he had the money and you were the trainer would you know where to find a jockey?

WILL GOMPERTZ: She also made quite an impression on co-star Angela Lansbury.

Not, though, before she had overcome those tricky adolescent years. Some started to doubt her talent. Until, that is, she starred alongside Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun. It was career-defining film. It made her a star and a better actor.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR: I learned that you had to feel it in your gut. You'd get a rush of like being that person and being true to that person and what they would do.

WILL GOMPERTZ: And then, there was her private life, which was just as dramatic as her movies. By her mid-20s, she'd been married three times, divorced twice and widowed.

Meanwhile, her film career was flourishing. She received three Oscar nominations in a row, before winning best actress award for this performance in Butterfield 8.

But her professional and private life came sensationally together with the movie Cleopatra. She fell in love with the role and Richard Burton, her co-star, leading to one of the 20th Century's most famous and well-documented love affairs.

They acted together in a series of films, including Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, for which she won her second Oscar.

They married and divorced twice, but remained close until Burton's death.

Although the film roles began to subside, her fame did not. She used it and her remarkable energy to fight fear and prejudice towards AIDS.

Dame Elizabeth Taylor had her problems with ill health and addiction, but her indomitable spirit and her lust for life meant that she could not be thwarted.